


I Can't Breathe Without You

by ChokolatteJedi



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Community: Hump_Day101 HDWC, Community: joss100, F/F, One Shot, season 5
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-07-03
Updated: 2006-07-03
Packaged: 2017-10-14 04:14:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/145272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChokolatteJedi/pseuds/ChokolatteJedi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I think I forgot how to breathe...</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Can't Breathe Without You

**Author's Note:**

> Placed at the end of Season 5. Drabble written for the hump_day101 HDWC, with the prompts angst and "I think I forgot." Also for my joss100 table, prompt 084. Serenity.

I think I forgot how to breathe when I saw you die.

When I saw you laying there, on those broken pallets. We won the battle, but you lost. You sacrificed yourself again to save us. I just forgot how to breathe.

I remember Xander carrying Anya, and Giles holding Dawn as they both cried. I remember Spike dropping to his knees, half to avoid the rising sun, half in painful collapse. I even remember falling into Tara’s arms, and the feeling of my heart breaking, just like those pallets.

But what I couldn’t remember, was how to breathe.

I sat there, staring at you, waiting for you to get up and tell me what we should do next. And the sun rose, and the light hit your face. And all I could see was you.

But it wasn’t the you I knew, the you I had tutored in school, the you I had come to love.

Your face was pale, and your eyes were closed, and you weren’t smiling. But I could tell that you were happy.

You were calm, and serene. You weren’t hurting, or running, or fighting for your life.

And I knew, even though we were still fighting to survive, you were finished. You were finally free of your destiny, of the constant pain it caused you. You did win. You were done.

Knowing that, and knowing that you were safe, I started to breathe again.


End file.
